Mosquito Control in Southwest Florida After Hurricane Irma

On September 10th, 2017, Hurricane Irma swept across Southwest Florida, bringing not only heavy winds, but widespread flooding.

Thankfully, adult mosquitoes don’t generally survive the high winds that hurricanes bring, so during the hot, stagnant days of no power that followed this massive storm, at least we weren’t covered with mosquitoes.

Unfortunately, the flooding caused by Hurricane Irma across much of Southwest Florida has created the perfect conditions for a major mosquito outbreak in the coming months.

Floodwater mosquitoes(Aedes vexans and other species) typically appear approximately two weeks after heavy rains and flooding. They lay their eggs in areas with wet soil and once that soil dries out, their eggs can remain dormant for as long as a year just waiting for the water to return so they can finally hatch.

Right now the ground is saturated and there is standing water just about everywhere you look, so we can expect very large populations of floodwater mosquitoes to begin hatching soon. There are estimates of the number of mosquito eggs in a floodwater habitat between 0.7 and 1.3 million eggs per acre. Yes – per acre. If only a small percentage of those eggs hatched and survived to the adult stage, the number of adult mosquitoes flying around looking for blood at one time is almost incomprehensible.

Lee County Mosquito Control will likely take steps to reduce the mosquito populations in our area now that the hurricane has passed, but you can also help control mosquitoes in and around your home and prevent mosquito bites.